Profile of Herbert Loebl
Herbert Loebl was born in Bamberg, Germany, and at the age of 16 Herbert fled with his family to Newcastle in 1939 as a refugee from Nazi Germany.
After the War, he became a student at King's College, Newcastle (now Newcastle University), graduating in 1949 with a BSc in Electrical Engineering. He was to return to the University on two further occasions, gaining a Master of Philosophy in 1978 and a PhD in 1985.
While at the University he met Robert Joyce, a fellow graduate in electrical engineering and the son of an unemployed Jarrow shipyard worker. Together, Joyce and Loebl started their first company, specialising in electronics and scientific instruments, under a railway arch in Newcastle in 1951with £200 worth of capital.
Today, there are four companies in the region that grew from the original Joyce, Loebl and Co Ltd: Loebl Ltd; Sevcon Ltd, of Team Valley; Applied Imaging Ltd, based at Times Square, Newcastle; and Phasor Ltd, based at Sunderland Enterprise Park.
Herbert Loebl has been widely decorated at home and abroad for his commitment to industrial development, and to the education of his employees. He was awarded an OBE in 1973 for Services to Exports, the Citizen's Medal of the city of Bamberg in 1996, the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1997and the Bavarian Order of Merit in 2001.
Newcastle University Business School are proud to continue working with Dr Herbert Loebl.
